Cage Hendren was indisputably one of the best wildcatters around. He could smell oil, seemed to know instinctively where it was. Oh, he'd gone to Tech and earned a degree in geology to make it all official and to inspire confidence. But he had a knack for sensing where the stuff was, a knack that couldn't be book learned. He had drilled a few dry holes, but very few. Few enough to win him the respect of men who had been in the business more years than Cage was old.
He'd been trying to lease the mineral rights on the Parson's land for years. The elderly couple had died within months of each other, but the children had held out, saying they didn't want their family's land to be desecrated by drilling rigs. That was a crock, of course, and Cage knew it. They had been holding out while the price went up. He'd pay a call on the executor of the estate tomorrow.
"Hiya, Cage."
He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't seen the woman until she sidled up to his table, managing to nudge his shoulder with her hip as she did so. He glanced up with a notable lack of interest. "Hi, Didi. How're things?"
Without a word, she laid a single key on the polished surface of the small, round table, covered it with the pad of her index finger, and slid it toward Cage. "Sonny and I have finally called it quits."
"'S that a fact?"
Didi's marriage to Sonny had been on the rocks for months. Neither upheld their vows, especially the one promising faithfulness. She had made inviting moves toward Cage before, but he'd stayed away from her. He didn't have many scruples, but he was loyal to one; never with a married woman. Something inside him still believed in the sanctity of marriage, despite everything, and he never wanted to be responsible for helping break one up.
"Uh-huh. That's a fact all right. I'm a single woman now, Cage." Didi smiled down at him. If she had licked her lips, she would have been the perfect imitation of a well-satisfied she-cat that had just lapped up a bowl of cream. Her generous figure had been poured into a pair of jeans with a Neiman-Marcus label, and a low cut sweater. Leaning down, she gave him an unrestricted view of her deep cleavage.
Rather than inciting desire, she made him feel like he needed a bath.
Jenny. Jenny. Jenny. So clean. Her body so neatly feminine. Not overblown, not lush, not voluptuous, just womanly.
Damn!
Mentally he jerked himself erect, though he still slouched in his chair, nonchalantly twirling the bottom of his glass on the table.
Didi dragged a long fingernail down his arm. "See ya, Cage," she said with a seductive certainty as she undulated away.
One corner of his mouth twisted sardonically. Had he ever thought such a bold invitation was attractive? Didi's blatancy was almost laughable.
Jenny didn't even know she was sexy. She wore such a subtle fragrance. In comparison, Didi's heavy perfume lingered after her distastefully.
Jenny's voice was nervously breathless, a voice Cage found far sexier than Didi's affected purr. And Jenny's amateurish caresses had stirred him more than the calculated foreplay any of his former lovers had practiced.
Closing out the seamy setting before him, he let his mind wander back to that innocent bedroom that should have belonged to a child, not to a woman who wore silk nightgowns. And it had been silk. His touch was educated to the matchless feel of silk against a woman's body. But Jenny's skin had been almost as soft. And her hair. And—
Her virginity had been a shock. Surely, surely his brother wasn't that saintly. How could Hal, how could any man, have lived in the same house with Jenny all these years and not made love to her?
Were he and his brother that different? Weren't they similarly equipped? Of course they were. There was nothing wrong with Hal physically. Cage had to admire Hal's unflagging morality, though he couldn't imagine anyone imposing such a rigid code of morality on himself.
Jenny hadn't, had she?
She had been willing to give herself to Hal on the night of his departure. What a sap Hal had been not to accept that precious gift. Cage hated to think of his brother in such derisive terms, but that was how he felt about it. Hadn't Hal realized what a sacrifice Jenny had been making for him? At the moment he had encountered the frail barrier of her virginity, Cage had.
God above, had he ever known such rapture as when he was sheathed inside her? Had he ever heard any sweeter sound than the little catches in her throat when passion claimed her?
Never. It had never been so good.
But then, no other woman was Jenny. She was the unattainable one. The one forbidden and off-limits. Even beyond his far-reaching boundaries.
He had known it for years. Just as he had known that she belonged to Hal. It was understood. Years ago, Cage had had to reconcile himself to that. He could have any woman he wanted. Except the one he really wanted. Jenny.
He was rotten to the core. No good. Didn't give a damn about anyone or anything. That was what folks said about him and it was mainly true. But he had cared enough about Jenny and Hal not to ruin their lives with his interference.
He had kept his secret well. No one knew. No one would even guess. Least of all her. She had no idea that every time he was near her, he ached to touch her. Not sexually. Just touch her.
Her affection for him was purely fraternal. Yet he had always sensed that she was afraid of him, too. He made her uncomfortable and that had often broken his heart. Her fear was justified, of course. He had a scandalous reputation and any woman who valued her good name stayed away from him as though his sexuality was as contagious and dreaded as leprosy.
But he had often wondered what would have happened if Jenny had come to live with them sooner. If he hadn't been off at college, if he hadn't already been known as a hell-raiser without equal, if they had had time to develop a relationship, would Jenny have turned to him instead of Hal?
It was his favorite fantasy to think so. Because he sensed that beneath Jenny's reserve, there was a free spirit longing to be released, a sensual, sexual woman trapped in an invisible cage of circumspection. If she were given her freedom, what would happen?